LOEB DEBUTS MARTINI RACING PORSCHE 911 GT3 CUP RACER

Loeb fails to win - shock

As the most successful man in motorsport, Sébastien Loeb has the golden touch. So everybody had high expectations of his debut race in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup series that accompanies the F1 series through Europe.

As we previously reported at www.europeancarweb.com, Loeb was driving a new Martini-liveried Porsche GT3 Cup racer for his first race - a car built to celebrate the Italian drink company's 150th anniversary.

Arriving at Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona for the opening round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup fresh from his World Rally Champion win in Argentina, Loeb got straight down to business.

Having only driven the car twice before, the rally legend qualified 13th on a 27-car grid during Saturday's 30min qualifying session and went on to take 11th place in Sunday's 14-lap race.

Sébastien Loeb said: "During the first laps I was somewhat cautious. I know how easy it is to get tangled up in a skirmish with such a close field. I wasn't able to get much further ahead. When you have so many strong drivers ahead of you who are all going the same speed there is not much chance to overtake. Still, it was huge fun. As the weekend went on I felt increasingly better in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and now I'm looking forward to the race in Monaco. There, the qualifying is more important of course and hopefully I can start from a little further up the grid."